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[RC] SCID, HYPP, Lethal White - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: Nicole z_arabs@xxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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OF course, that is in a perfect world... I know Nariadni 
tested positive for SCIDS and still was promoted heavily. I 
guess that is analogous to the Quarter horse breeders who 
have HYPP (did I get that right?) in the bloodlines and yet 
still breed the stallions.


Actually, SCID and HYPP are *very very* different.  SCID 
carriers -- like frame overo [lethal white] -- are perfectly 
healthy and with the test no one need EVER breed an affected 
foal.  Horses with a single HYPP gene are also affected, just 
not to the degree of the homozygous individuals.  I always 
notice that people like to lump SCID & HYPP together even 
though they are so very different, yet no one ever seems to 
suggest that all frame overos should be culled from the 
breeding population...

The immediate culling of all carriers is an extreme response. 
It's been done in some dog breeds (Basenjis in particular) and
the results was that removing all the carriers of a gene that 
had a test lead to the discovery of another gene that did NOT
have a test.

NO horse (or dog) is perfect.  NONE.  And there are a WHOLE lot
of things that either don't have a test or are undesirable or
just plain bad for the horses as individuals or as a breed.  I'd
much rather breed carrier x clear for something that can be
tested for and is perfectly harmless in it's heterozygous state
than breed bad legs, weak backs, bad temperaments....

~Nicole

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The very essence of our sport is doing the trail as quickly as practicable,
while keeping one's horse fit to continue.  Taking the clock out of the
equation makes it another sport altogether.  The challenge is how to keep
the sport what it is while honing our skills (both as riders and as those
in control roles) in detecting where "the edge" is for each horse so that
we don't cross it. 
~  Heidi Smith
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